Je t'aime moi non plus (1976) User Reviews

An off-beat love story

[miff62 · 7/10 · 17 August 2010]

A decidedly off-beat love story as two characters from the fringe seek love in a wasteland of flesh and garbage, only to find it fleetingly in the back of a garbage truck. Kurant's luminous cinematography and Gainsbourg's leisurely pace do much to bring beauty to scenes that might otherwise be unbearably sordid.

Dallesandro and Birkin are beautiful to look at and play a dysfunctional couple in more ways than one. The film explores the poignancy of emotional need, the vulnerability to abuse and the impossibility of communication within the couple. It's a tale of surprising tenderness and cruelty.

Gainsbourg's soundtrack is surprisingly sparse, but used imaginatively and with more than a hint of irony.

Female masochism at its most overt

[Rogue-32 · 7/10 · 26 December 2004]

In Serge Gainsbourg's film Je T'aime Moi Non Plus, we get to witness female masochism at its most extreme and overt, where Gainsbourg's real-life wife, the provocatively stimulating Jane Birkin, plays Johnny, who falls for Joe Dallesandro's gay boy Krassky and spends the remainder of the movie trying to satisfy him sexually, although he can only get off through anal sex, which proves to be excruciatingly painful for our heroine, who doesn't care because she loves the boy, see, and she hopes that somehow he will be transformed by her love and devotion. He's not.

What does this mean? Is it a metaphor for male/female relationships, where women are, sadly, prone to being treated like garbage by the (generally unworthy) men they love? The film doesn't offer any judgment one way or another, which of course is soooooo French, and a good thing, in actuality; the actions of the characters speak volumes without any preaching being necessary.

My IMDb rating: 7

Cult Perverted Romance

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 1 June 2016]

The homosexual garbage truck driver Krassky (Joe Dallesandro) and his partner Padovan (Hugues Quester) stop at an isolated restaurant near the landfill where they work to drink a beer. They are served by the waitress Johnny (Jane Birkin) and she explains that the sleazy owner Boris (Reinhard Kolldehoff) has given that nickname to her since she wears short hair and has small breasts. Her tomboy style attracts Krassky and she has a crush on him. Boris warns her that Krassky is gay but Johnny dates him. When they go to bed, Krassky fails; however, when he sees her laying down on her face, he gets excited and sodomizes her. They start an unusual relationship while Padovan gets jealous.

"Je t'aime moi non plus" is a cult perverted romance that called the attention of Jane Birkin to the audiences in the 70's. This actress is used and abused along the shallow story and made the title song famous mainly because of her moaning and screams. This song has also become a synonym of love and eroticism. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Paixão Selvagem" ("Wild Passion")

Worth seeing if you know what to expect

[lazarillo · 11 February 2009]

A young elfin-looking waitress (Jane Birkin) who works at a sleazy diner of the middle of nowhere France falls in love with a garbage man (Joe Dallesandro) who everyone warns her is gay. She pursues the relationship, but things don't work out too well. He only likes to have sex in a very uncomfortable manner for her, and her pained cries get them thrown out of several motels and apartments. She also has to deal with the jealously of her lover's male "friend"/co-worker, and with her own domineering, disgusting, and flatulent older boss.

French films and Hollywood films are very different, but one thing they have in common is the tendency to have incredibly attractive actors unconvincingly slumming in unglamorous roles. Bisexual hustler/actor Joe Dallesandro (who was the "Little Joe" immortalized in Lou Reed's song "Walk on the Wild Side") is probably the best-looking garbageman in the history of garbage. And Jane Birkin, the real-life wife/lover of musician Serg Gainsboug, the director of this (the couple duet-ed on a hit pop song "Je'Taime Moi Non Plus" from which this movie takes title), is a stunning beauty who would NEVER be reduced to slinging hash in a crappy diner. The movie seems to be trying to trade on the androgyny of the couple. Birkin's character has a short haircut and is nicknamed "Johnny". But despite her A-cup breasts NOBODY is going to mistake Birkin for a boy (at least with her clothes off). And Dallesandro may be pretty, but he's much more of a muscular stud than an effeminate pretty boy (Ironically, the androgynous "unisex sex" thing was done much better fifteen years later in the "Cement Garden", which was directed by Jane's brother Andrew Birkin and featured the couple's grown daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg).

This film is kind of interesting in that, despite the perpetual nudity by the two uber-attractive leads, it doesn't go for the easy romantic or erotic angle (unless you consider sodomy in the back of a garbage truck erotic or romantic). In some ways it's a fairly realistic and downbeat film. It's actually kind of like a Catherine Breillat film (well, maybe it's not quite THAT downbeat). Gerard Depardieu also shows in a small role as a homophobic thug. And, of course, the music is quite good. This might be worth seeing if you know what to expect.

Interesting.....

[skulli99 · 7/10 · 26 December 2013]

Not much of a story, like in "un homme, une femme"(also with a famous song in the film) , its real strength is the atmosphere it invokes, - the desolute landscape which accentuates the feeling of loneliness, the truculent male star, the hard stares from the judging locals, the weak and fragmented dialogue, the not too bright couple who were madly in love, it's just one of those films that you can't forget, and of course, very french in style, ....the scenes of anal sex were unnecessary, but the film was released in the 1970's so a bit of scandal , only helped to sell more the film to the public.

I think a remake of this film in the US, could be done nowadays. Filmed in the plains of the Midwest, in some god forgotten village, it would be a hit, especially considering the amount of free publicity US films get !

Arid Western Americana with a distinct French (and Gainsbourg) touch

[jimcheva · 5/10 · 8 August 2022]

We learn several things about Jane Birkin (once something of a sex symbol) here: 1 She bellows as loud and roughly as any woman I've ever seen on screen; really, REALLY loud; 2 She fakes a woman who finds anal intercourse unbearably painful really well (how realistic you find this may be based on your preconceptions about that act or your actual experience; I found it a touch over the top); 3 She really did have an incredibly boyish, nay, disturbingly thin, body in this period; sometimes distractingly so. She certainly had elfin charm at this point in her life and is most compelling when she's not.. well, screaming. (What does it say about her husband casting her in a distinctively masochistic role? Probably not much more than that, as a couple, they liked to maintain a faintly scandalous image.) Casting Joe Dallesandro was an interesting nod to Warhol, intended or not, though I don't think Gainsbourg was much associated with him. In a film which focuses more on his face than other attributes which brought him to prominence, he uses it well. There are some stray cameos by famous French actors like Gerard Depardieu and Michel Blanc. Overall, the film feels like a French homage to the darker sort of modern American Western, with lots of dreary landscapes and the arrival of two drifters. A lot of it feels cliché, albeit with a sense of homage, and the story is rather desultory overall. There are touches of humor, notably in the hotels where Birkin's character's... discomfort... greatly disturbs the other guests. Apparently Truffaut loved this film. I didn't.

Disappointing

[wood-69841 · 5/10 · 17 June 2016]

The story line was intriguing but the film could have been so much better, like with a better script, better actors, better direction etc. Apart from the 'Je T'aime' song, the music in this film is particularly inappropriate. When I think of Joe Dallesandro the word 'wooden' comes to mind, and the others taking part are on a similar level, although Jane Birkin should get a mention for effort. Nothing much happens apart from the garbage truck driver attempting anal sex with the waitress. The question remains, did they finally achieve this satisfactorily in the back of the truck, or had he inadvertently managed to find the right hole? I don't suppose I'll ever know.

Beautifully twisted

[redordeadlenora · 10/10 · 6 September 2006]

While this hard to find gem may not be palatable to the general public, it's a must see for fans of Serge Gainsbourg or those that appreciate a truly twisted love story. The film set somewhere in France is about two gay garbage men one of whom is played by Warhol star Joe Dallasandro, who happen a very young and androgynous Jane Birkin. Dallasandro and Birkin's characters begin a very torrid and complicated love affair. You see, he can only become aroused when taking her from behind. Proving that love can sometimes be painful this original film is not to be missed. Oh, and it has a young Gerard Depardieu riding around naked on a horse.

Sick sick sick

[robert-temple-1 · 1/10 · 26 March 2014]

At last I got around to watching this film after all these years, the one with the song by Serge Gainsbourg where Jane Birkin makes orgasmic noises and sighs 'Je t'aime, je t'aime' to the music. And in the film she really does. But in that scene she is being buggered by a homosexual male during all of that sighing. She is not doing what people who have just heard the song all thought, and certainly not with Serge Gainsbourg, who as writer and director was behind the camera enjoying showing the world just how much he could degrade and exploit Jane on screen in fulfilment of his deeply sick fantasies. Of course Jane Birkin is entrancing, she always is, both on screen and off. But the film is odious, badly made, disgusting, pornographic, inauthentic, exploitative, demented, psychotic, and everything else. Jane spends more than half of her time on screen entirely naked, but then she is not a shy person, so presumably did not mind that. After all, she stripped off in BLOWUP without a qualm, when she was even younger. Jane's inherent physical androgyny is stressed in this weird and revolting film. Anyone watching will soon discover that Jane has never had much in the way of breasts. But that does not stop her from being intensely feminine. My wife and I have met all the Birkins, Jane's mother Judy having been our close friend. They are all unusual, let's put it that way. And unusual can mean just about anything. I found the most interesting of her three talented daughters to be Kate Barry, whose tragic death occurred not long ago. It astounds me to what an extent Jane is such a celebrity in France that they behave as if she were a goddess. Perhaps she is. Certainly I have always been mesmerised by her whenever she has spoken anything at all. What is her secret? Ah, that is the secret. But as for this film, it is best forgotten and buried in the rubbish tip which features so prominently, buzzing with flies, in the action of the film, if all that tedium can be called action.

Great cast, interesting story, well directed.

[czar-10 · 9/10 · 10 August 1999]

I love the multi-talented Serge Gainsbourg, He can act, direct, compose music, write, etc.. so maybe this review is a little biased. Anyway I have been following Joe Dallesandro's career for a while now and having seen almost all of his movies I would have to say he is the best in this one, teamed up with the beautiful Jane Birkin they make a great on-screen pair! This movie follows the Life a of a gay garbage man named Krasky, (played by Joe) who meets up with the boyish looking Johnny (Jane Birkin), and they hit it off. Krasky leaves his male lover and moves in with Johnny. In the end things don't work out because Krasky is gay, (and he reconciles with his lover), and For Johnny anal sex is just too painful. Gerard Depardieu has a small but funny part as a perverted bum riding a horse.

The most erotic movie ever made with one purpose: To make you sick!

[protoleios-21302 · 1/10 · 28 February 2022]

Don't even think about watching this film! You 'll feel the sickness fron the first 5 min. The BBC knows better (see other opinions) Therefore: 1/10 (because 0/10 doesn't exist).

zeitgeist

[bloodpuppy · 24 October 2003]

lovely.

JTMNP is for fans of Showgirls, of movies that seek a level of sophistication beyond their reach, and in the process reveal layers of untold truth.

it's second rate, cheesy, silly, extravagant, ribald, shallow. and in that, utterly wonderful. it shows us a time and place that couldn't have been shown to us with an intentional eye.

i'm still 'haunted' by many scenes in the film, by swirling sunny buttocks, and the screams of anal invasion, and the scarf snapping lover of the hero.

watch it if you can find it. serge gainsbourg was france.

an enjoying use of time and talent

[elvinjones · 8/10 · 9 October 2008]

This movie was so near to be ridiculous but there's a sense of measure and a limpid style that make not possible to be ridiculous. It's a love story and the fact is that is possible for love to get over the sexual difference? Krass and Padovan are two gays in crisis; Krass meets Johnny a female, androgen because she had no tits but a well rounded ass.You can think is the perfect woman for an homosexual. But there is more over the sexual attraction between the two; they starts to practice sodomy to made relationship like gay relationship but after there is more. All that it happens in a no man's land surely in the united states, the right place for no man's land.We are in the USA but we are everywhere;it is also true that we are only in the USA and the director made this possible with just a few of elements in this "no" place.That's related with the exquisite economy of the movie. For something is possible to relate this movie with "Last tango in Paris" because we have a relationship between two persons never met before in a neutral zone and the final is a little similar, there's a irremediable broke in the game. But i prefer this little film then the Bertolucci overrated movie

A unique film, erotism given in the most unpredictable way

[moebius gastone · 20 August 1998]

The film is a classic one. Jane Birkin incredibly sexy and Depardieu in a surprise-part. Erotic scenes that you will never forget...

I loved you Serge, and then this...

[manohawkins · 20 June 2007]

I won't rate this movie, because it makes an impression despite being unimpressive on the whole. Often boring and disgusting, this movie can still stand to viewing given two academic crutches: its boringness supported by Brecht's warning that boring stories can be more thought provoking and its disgusting portrayals of sex held up by Paul De Man's proviso that disgust is a distraction from the larger picture.

The dialog has some merit. As in My Life to Live or Alphaville or Pulp Fiction for that matter, moments where the film has made you feel most alienated from the characters usually foray into uncommon, abstract conversations. The answer to "Johnny" (Jane Birkin) when she tells her boyfriend, "I love you. Do you love me?" is not "I don't" but rather an unenthusiastic, somewhat incomplete "yes." He explains that the way their bodies move in rhythm together is all love is, and that it's rare.

The scenes that will appeal to fans of French film are the ones where "Johnny" and her boyfriend are alone and where "Johnny" is not crying in agony. Her lover will utter something strange and surprising like that his work as a garbage man is important because moving things from one place to another is just like what happens to bodies after they die. Enthymemes, incomplete logical statements, abound in that character's statements. In this case, he does not establish the importance of transporting corpses. Later, he explains that sometimes he wishes he were crap, because he used to dream about coal-burning trains and they're electric now. He does not explain whether it's the look or the smell or the wastefulness of burning coal that appeals to him, and why the new technology thus devastates him. At the end of the film, he tells "Johnny" that he would not beat up his old boyfriend who had threatened her life, with less than an explanation: "You want me to make his face into hamburger meat? What would that do?" Indeed, his rejection of her demand leads to his devastating inaction and their climactic fight.

Serge's choice of such an unappealing gay protagonist makes this film feel homophobic. The mental inadequacies of the character do not stop at frail logic. His attempts to fool himself that "Johnny" is a boy make him seem as delusional as Scottie in "Vertigo," when Scottie dresses up a hat shop clerk named Judy Barton as a dead woman named Madeleine. His tolerance for "Johnny's" pain during anal intercourse paints him as an introverted and apathetic jerk a la Humbert Humbert. His flight from an angry woman makes him seem like any other craven character in a romance.

Characters and plot are not everything in a movie. The camera work is original and the songs are inspired, but FEW (just three songs!)! Why couldn't such a prolific musical mind at least work with leitmotifs within his three melodies? Some of the decay of Serge's ambition is e

A disappointing waste of time and talent

[rch427 · 14 August 1999]

We had hoped that Serge Gainsbourg's most well-known film would demonstrate his interesting - if a bit twisted - perspective and style. Unfortunately, by the time "Je t'aime moi non plus" was made, Serge had become an "old fart", to borrow a recurring line from the movie. Instead of the inventive, hip Serge of the 'sixties, pulling musical influences from around the globe and spicing them up with naughty references, he had become the jaded fatalist, using shock value out of habit rather than effect. It would also appear that he had been a bit too influenced by Godard's "Weekend" for his own good. Long tracking shots of the protagonist's truck passing aimlessly through a barren landscape littered with wrecked cars are employed at least four times. What this film and its actors really needed were a plot and some actual dialogue. Birkin, Dallesandro and the rest of the cast do credible jobs with what they've been given to work with, but their doomed love triangle is bog-standard 1950s melodrama, with a gay twist. Absolutely wasted here is Gerard Depardieu, who turns in an awkward and unconvincing cameo as a homosexual beastialist. Thankfully, Gainsbourg still had talent in him as a composer, and the film benefits from his soundtrack. I suspect he was not encouraged to attempt more directorial efforts, as after "Je t'aime..." he only did vanity films.